The Shifting Focus of Federal Intervention in Retiree Health Benefits

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has teetered on the brink of disaster each fall in recent years. The reasons are manifold, but the tipping point seems to rest improbably on a retirement benefit. Back in 2006, Congress decided the USPS should fund its accumulated future retiree health liability over a ten-year period. That translates to more than $5 billion due each September, which the struggling national mail service institution can ill afford to pay. The USPS problem is extreme and aggravated by unique legislation, but similar issues haunt most employment-based retiree health plans. With millions of current and future retirees and their families depending on such benefits, the federal government has intervened sporadically in this area over the past few decades. While the underlying goal would seem to be preserving these plans as long as possible, the government’s focus over time has shifted from participants to employers. This Article follows the path of that shifting focus from the mid1980s through today. Employment-based health plans for retirees and their dependents cover at least fifteen million individuals in the United States. Retiree health insurance